License plate readers help Mass. police, worry privacy groups

Thursday

Jun 23, 2011 at 12:01 AMJun 23, 2011 at 11:20 PM

Fueled by federal grants, high-speed cameras that can automatically read up to 30 license plates a second and check them for violations or law enforcement alerts are scanning more streets and highways across Massachusetts this year.

David Riley

(Editor's note: Embargoed until week of July 3 except in Metro unit.)

Fueled by federal grants, high-speed cameras that can automatically read up to 30 license plates a second and check them for violations or law enforcement alerts are scanning more streets and highways across Massachusetts this year.

Earlier this year, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security doled out $500,000 in federal highway grants to 26 police departments for automatic plate readers, which can be stationary or mounted on a cruiser on patrol.

Some Bay State cities and towns, including Salem, Somerville and Boston, already had the high-tech scanners. Those that won grants are now using plate readers or will be soon.

“We’ve used it and we’ve got quite a few unregistered, uninsured license plates,” said Gloucester Police Chief Michael Lane, whose department received a $22,362 grant to buy the device.

“Nothing replaces the personal touch, but it’s nice to have some technology behind you now and then,” Lane said.

In its grant application materials, the state described the technology as a tool to protect law-abiding motorists from other drivers without licenses, registrations or insurance. But as the devices become more prevalent, privacy advocates question what information they collect on drivers and how law enforcement stores, shares and uses that data.

“The potential for abuse is pretty serious,” said Kade Crockford, privacy rights coordinator for the Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union.

The cameras are clearly in high demand. Ninety-eight police departments applied to the state’s public safety office for a grant to buy one this year.

The devices also are becoming more common across the U.S. In a single week, news reports described Iowa police considering them, Baltimore cops using the technology to catch car thieves and Cincinnati planning to target ticket scofflaws caught by the cameras.

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) also has urged Congress to fund automatic license plate readers at checkpoints along the nation’s northern and southern borders.

ELSAG North America, a major manufacturer of plate readers, has seen its number of clients roughly triple in the last three years, from 300 or so to upward of 1,000 today, company spokesman Nathan Maloney said.

“It’s the latest craze in technology for law enforcement,” Maloney said.

The cameras can capture images of any nearby license plates, even at night, and isolate the numbers and convert them into electronic data. Police can upload databases into the systems to automatically check plate numbers for connections to anything from driving offenses to arrest warrants to ticket scofflaws to missing people alerts.

Officers typically have to check this information manually on laptop computers or ask dispatchers to look it up. In some departments, police said officers would still confirm matches found by plate readers to make sure the information is up to date.

Checking a plate manually can take a minute or so, police said. ELSAG’s plate readers can scan up to 1,800 plates a minute, according to Maloney.

“(Police) don’t have to take their eyes or hands off the steering wheel,” he said. “It helps them do their job more efficiently.”

Automatic plate readers also record information on the dates, times and locations of the plates they scan, according to an IACP report.

Authorities said this information could aid criminal investigations, such as placing the same car at the scene of multiple bank robberies or break-ins. But collecting this information on all citizens – even law-abiding ones – is what worries privacy advocates.

Crockford of the ACLU described a lack of consistent guidelines on how this data can be used or stored, even as the technology is already in use. The devices could, for example, be used to track the movements of people who attend a political demonstration, she said.

“We would prefer that they not keep it at all unless it pertains to an ongoing criminal investigation,” Crockford said, adding that the ACLU hopes to work with the state to draft a data policy that protects people’s privacy.

Application material for this year’s state grants said plate readers may be used “for official law enforcement operations only.” Departments must submit license plate data to the state’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, which will make it available to law enforcement “as needed to support official law enforcement operations.”

The state does not yet have a formal policy on use or retention of that data, said Terrel Harris, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.

“We’re currently working to develop a policy that balances the effective use of this powerful law enforcement tool with the privacy concerns we’re keenly aware of,” Harris said in an email.

Police departments described a range of policies. Several said they referred to an IACP report that acknowledges privacy risks and says departments should address them, but offers no specific suggestions on how long data should be retained.

Massachusetts State Police, who received one license plate reader through a state grant, do not have a specific policy on data retention, spokesman David Procopio said. But he referred to other policies on collecting data, such as plate images, and on using electronic equipment that say troopers can only use these materials for legitimate law enforcement purposes.

In Franklin, Lt. Thomas Lynch said the department keeps plate data for 180 days unless it is relevant to an investigation. The department’s policy also details the purposes for which it can be used, he said.

In Gloucester, Chief Lane said the department followed the IACP’s recommendations on how data should be used. About every 90 days, the plate reader automatically wipes out its own stored data, he said.

“Pretty much that’s our policy right now – to let it record over itself,” Lane said.

In Newton, where plate readers are expected to go into operation this summer, the police department is drafting privacy and retention policies, said Capt. Howard Mintz, who heads the traffic bureau.

“If the information develops into a legitimate criminal case, then we would hold onto that information,” he said. “Other than that, it would be destroyed in a fairly short time.”

Departments using plate readers said they are already seeing results.

In Gloucester, Lane said a plate reader spotted a car that had been reported stolen more than 30 miles away in Lawrence. It was parked legally on Main Street at the time, and odds are slim an officer would have seen any reason to check its plate, he said.

In Franklin, Lynch said the devices have flagged registration or insurance problems. But police are not yet able to check plates against certain types of information, like arrest warrants, and Lynch said he hopes to see that improve.

“It’s still early – we’ve only had it for about a month,” Lynch said. “The technology is great – it’s just that the databases it draws off of, as far as I’m concerned, are a little limited.”

Federal officials provided no details on how much money the government is spending to fund automatic plate readers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it has no funding sources specifically for the devices, though states can use federal highway money on plate readers in ways that promote driving safety.

The Departments of Homeland Security and Justice did not respond to requests for figures.

(David Riley can be reached at 508-626-3919 or driley@wickedlocal.com.)